Just Messin' Around

Every once in awhile when I haven't been able to get out and take any pictures, I like to play with a photo editing program to change up my past photos. I hadn't been to Picnik for awhile so headed over and found that the site will be closing in April and now even the premium features are free until that time.

My daughter and I had fun playing around with our shots; she's familiar with PhotoShop but I'm not. That's why I enjoy Pickic, it's really easy to change your photos with just a click of a button. Then I did some more searching and found another similar site that doesn't charge at all; Pixlr. So, below are some of my older photos that I've used either one of those programs to enhance.

La Push, Wa

La Push, Wa

Nellie

Teenager in Love ♥

Daughter on the beach

Tide Pool

My older brother, with red shoes

B&B Farm in Idaho

Oregon Beach

Oregon Beach

Nahalem Bay, Oregon

Uniontown, Wa

Uniontown, Wa

Uniontown, Wa

Christmas Lights in Poinsettias

Manito Park’s Gaiser Conservatory

Every year our local Manito Park Conservatory adorns their plants, trees, shrubs, cacti, and hundreds of Poinsettias with over 30,000 Christmas lights.

My camera really didn't know how to act with all of the lights but I think it did a pretty good job.

It was hard to pick just a few because every corner was so beautiful.

The light show started in 1994 and only missed one year in '96 due to an ice storm.

It takes two workers 5 weeks to string the 30,000 lights. They're slowly converting to LED and are now at 20% this year .

Some of the oldest plants there are a 105 year old Christmas cactus and a 75 year old Jade tree. There were a couple of Jades, so I'm not sure if this is the one or not.

It's warm and steamy inside and you feel like you're in a totally different country. They also have a Bird of Paradise which seems to always be in bloom, no pic though.

I love all the cactus. They look so pretty with lights on them. One tall one with green lights came out blurry (I said my camera was confused), but the rest were impressive.

It's been about 5 years since we've been there and I don't think we should wait so long until the next time.

Mmmmm, could be my Christmas card next year

Down On The Farm

Here are a few more pictures of the area around a B&B we visited recently. I love old farms, there are so many things to take pictures of and explore.

In between showers

Crazy city folk, I'm sure he's thinking

Don't get any closer, you'll regret it

Love old buildings

Rust is a color, right?

The following shots are my daughter's with a DSLR. I wish I could afford to get her one of these because the quality is so much better than a point-and-shoot.

I love those clouds

A less than 24-hours old Blue Bunny, which has since died :-(

Friendly little thing

Aren't we cute?

Last Day, More Beach Time

I got out early this morning to walk on the beach by myself. Although it was cloudy and about 60, it was actually warmer than the last two days of 70 and wind. It was so peaceful to be out there with just the seagulls and myself.

One Lone Seagull

Before lunch my daughter and I went back to 'town' which is really only a block long. First we hit a thrift store and then a few stores for last minute t-shirts.

After lunch we went to a beach we haven't been to before, Manhattan. It was small and hardly anybody else was there. Well it was kind of crowded, with Seagulls and Pelicans. I've seen Pelicans flying by but never actually sitting on the beach, so that was really cool to see.

Waiting for lunch

We had heard that there was a large pile of drift logs so we headed there. My husband and daughter love to climb over them but I prefer not to get twisted ankles so I just stay put.

I'm more interested in how they got there, all bunched up in one area. I'm guessing a very large storm or maybe even a tsunami years ago. There's no way that could be man made.

Og needs more wood

log climber

Me and hubby

We ended the day by hubby and I going out for dinner. We left the kid behind with left over pizza so she could Skype with her boyfriend. We really had planned to build a fire on the beach and roast marshmallows but ran out of time. With two days being so windy it just wouldn't work. So we'll be hauling our wood and giant marshmallows home, you know, those large baseball sized ones. And since the diet continues when we get home I may have to wait a whole year to eat them.

So thanks for tagging along on our vacation, it's been fun.

Windy Beaches

Another day that didn't go exactly as planned. Three beaches to visit, but we only made it to two. It was so windy, that it was just a struggle to walk on them. The first one on our list was Arcadia. It's such a pretty beach and we happened to catch it at low tide so you could walk around rocks not normally available.

Arcadia at low tide

That made it possible to see all sorts of crustaceans clinging to the rocks, just waiting for the tide to come back in.

My husband is a driftwood fanatic so he headed up to the stack of logs. I'm not sure where he's going to put this in the car but I better make sure that he doesn't leave the kid behind to make room for it.

Caveman Og going to build big fire

Next on the beach list was Nehalem. We have been to this one before too but it was even windier there and practically deserted except for those that rented horses. Poor horses and poor me who had to actually sit at a picnic table and try to hold on to my lunch--literally. We didn't stay there long.

Entrance to beach

Blowing grasses

So that was it for today. Tomorrow we will try and hit the last one, which we haven't been to before. It's said to have lots of driftwood so Og will be happy.

On a sad note, when we got back to our room, we saw a police vehicle, search and rescue and the Coast Guard flying over the water. A hang glider had taken off from somewhere up on a hill and landed in the water. I don't know how long they searched but called it off about 1/2 hr. after we got back. It was really sad watching it sweep back and forth. I feel for his family and wonder if he lived in the area or was on vacation too.

Cape Meares

Today didn't turn out as fun as I had planned. Like I could control detours, getting lost, cold wind and whatever else gets thrown at you on a trip. But first, a few sunset pics from last night.

Big Orange Ball

It ends, as a kite flies through

We had intended to drive the Three Capes Scenic route and end up at Cape Meares Lighthouse but because of a landslide earlier, there were detours which made us and many more get helplessly lost in the Oregon wilderness. Well, that's what it felt like anyway. What should have taken us 47 minutes, really took us 2 hours to get to the lighthouse. After all that, it was kind of disappointing. Plus I had woke up with a moderate case of Vertigo so that made the day that much more enjoyable.

Cape Meares Lighthouse is the shortest of all the lighthouses on the Oregon coast with only a 38 foot tower.

From the same vista point was this view of the Three Arches which provides protection for over 200K sea birds. In 1901 a biologist and a photographer started the preservation process to protect the birds after hunters would boat out to the islands and shoot the birds for target practice. Now it is illegal to be within 500 yards of the islands between May and September.

Three Arches

Also in the same area is the Octopus Tree, a large gnarly Sitka Spruce believed to be 250-300 years old.



Octopus Tree

After we left there, we headed to Tillamook and the famous cheese factory. We've been there several times so didn't waste our time on the tour. It isn't the same as it used to be anyway. But we got some smoked salmon and cheese for dinner. Oh and ice cream of course, got to have the ice cream.

One more rock picture, not sure if they have a name or not because after awhile everything just kind of blurs into one jumbled mess. But they were pretty and I wanted a picture.

After we got back to the room we watched a movie and then took a very brisk walk before dinner. And I do mean brisk, the sun is out but it's darn cold and windy. The beach was pretty deserted and it looked like a sand storm going on. Then back to the room and a dinner of smoked salmon, cheese, bread, and marinated olives. Holy Cow I'm full.....again.

Tomorrow we'll be hitting beaches, some new, some old.